are their allowed to do this ?????? im very angry with this BS

Deadly Combination

im talking about powerhouse fitness they put their prices sky high and then say that they is a 25% discount

for e.g a rack last week was 199 - 25% off total = £ 149

now this week 249 - 25% off total = £199

and they did that for everything like a pair of stands cost £67 now £99

its a load of bull**** saying that their 25% off when really their only up the prices we still paying the bs normal price

SHOP - http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/

Sangre

Almost certain its against EU consumer laws (and therefore UK law). You can't advertise something on sale unless it has been at the previous price for a certain period e.g. 6 weeks. Think the relevant body to report them is the Office of Fair Trading.

The Davestator

Sangre wrote: »

Almost certain its against EU consumer laws (and therefore UK law). You can't advertise something on sale unless it has been at the previous price for a certain period e.g. 6 weeks. Think the relevant body to report them is the Office of Fair Trading.

Not true.

Companies can charge whatever they want, do whatever special deals they want and its up to consumers to not get tricked by the tricks.

Sangre

I'm sorry but you're absolutely incorrect. There is a plethora of legislation, both at the supranational and national level, protecting the consumer (i.e. a person acting in their personal capacity) from unfair and shady commercial practices. The EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/28/EC of 11 May 2005) being one of them.

There are also number of industry codes preventing certain actions by companies.

The Davestator

Sangre wrote: »

I'm sorry but you're absolutely incorrect. There is a plethora of legislation, both at the supranational and national level, protecting the consumer (i.e. a person acting in their personal capacity) from unfair and shady commercial practices. The EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/28/EC of 11 May 2005) being one of them.

There are also number of industry codes preventing certain actions by companies.

The deal the OP is talking about is neither unfair or shady. They advertise a price and if the consumer wants it, they buy it.

A few examples;

Gym Joining Fees - if you've ever joined a gym, you may have been offered a 50% off joining fee, no joining fee, etc etc. Last month is was x and next month is will be y but gyms can legally still advertise a % discount.

Aer lingus and their 20% off flights - even though the same deal has been on for months

Ryanair - enough said

During the housing boom - only 3 houses left etc.

Booking a holiday - I only have one appt left for those dates

I cant be arsed looking up the specific legislation, so i'll leave it at that

28064212

The Davestator wrote: »

The deal the OP is talking about is neither unfair or shady. They advertise a price and if the consumer wants it, they buy it.

That's certainly not true in Ireland. They can advertise whatever price they want. What they can't do is advertise a price as being a reduction when it's not. From CitizensInformation.ie:

Your rights are exactly the same when you buy items or services in a sale as at any other time. If a reduction is displayed on an item, the previous price must have been valid for 28 days over the previous three months

I don't know what the story is in the UK though

Enter Username

The Davestator wrote: »

Not true.

Companies can charge whatever they want, do whatever special deals they want and its up to consumers to not get tricked by the tricks.

My vote for "Stupid Comment of the Year"

The Davestator

Enter Username wrote: »

My vote for "Stupid Comment of the Year"

Your first post on the Fitness Forum and what a helpful one.

I, personally love love new people coming along with pointless, stupid and inflammatory posts with the sole intention of upping their post count and thanks whoring.

I really hope you stay around and answer fitness related questions that people post here every day to help them with their training.

If i'm wrong, ill stand corrected about my post.

You're a great lad...:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Sangre

The Davestator wrote: »

The deal the OP is talking about is neither unfair or shady. They advertise a price and if the consumer wants it, they buy it.

A few examples;

Gym Joining Fees - if you've ever joined a gym, you may have been offered a 50% off joining fee, no joining fee, etc etc. Last month is was x and next month is will be y but gyms can legally still advertise a % discount.

Aer lingus and their 20% off flights - even though the same deal has been on for months

Ryanair - enough said

During the housing boom - only 3 houses left etc.

Booking a holiday - I only have one appt left for those dates

I cant be arsed looking up the specific legislation, so i'll leave it at that

Many advertising practices by well know companies would fall foul of legislation.

Here are some prohibited examples that are often breached from the Consumer Protection Act 2007:

55.— (1) A trader shall not engage in any of the following commercial practices:

(c) a representation that the trader is about to cease trading or move premises, if the trader is not;


(n) making a false representation that a product is available only for a limited time, or on particular terms for a limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision from a consumer, depriving the consumer of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice in relation to the trader’s product;


(t) making a representation to a consumer that is inaccurate to a material degree in respect of market conditions, or in respect of the possibility of finding a product, with the intention of inducing the consumer to purchase a product at conditions less favourable than normal market conditions;

Also, in section 43, advertising may be misleading, and thus an offence, if:

(a) if the commercial practice involves a representation or creates an impression (whether in advertising, marketing or otherwise) that a product was previously offered at a different price or at a particular price, consideration shall be given to whether the product was previously offered openly and in good faith at that price and at the same place for a reasonable period of time before the representation was made, and


(b) if the commercial practice involves a representation or creates an impression (whether in advertising, marketing or otherwise) that a product is being offered by a trader at or below a price recommended by the manufacturer, producer or supplier of the product (other than the trader), consideration shall be given to whether that recommended price was one recommended in good faith by that manufacturer, producer or supplier.


As you can see, companies that advertise prices at a certain price, with no intention of charging that price, are misleading customers and therefore very likely to be breaking the law. Similarly with forever lasting sales. Just because companies do this doesn't mean it is legal. In fact, I would be quite sure most gyms breach laws on unfair commercial practices in relation to their contracts, especially when trying to quit.

I am by no mean an expert in consumer law at all but most if not all of the examples you gave Davestator aren't fair commercial practices and may be deemed an offence under the above-mentioned act.

Also, I forgot to mention but as that is a website the Distance Selling Regulations apply which give consumers a whole host of rights when buying online.


Edit: Please note that the Consumer Act 1978 contained the 28 day in 3 month rule. This was repealed by the 2007 Act which now refers to a 'reasonable period instead' (highlighted in bold). However, as permitted under the Act, the National Consumer Agency drafted guidelines in relation to reasonable period and held that the previous time (i.e. 28 days in 3 months) could be held to be that 'reasonable period' in most cases. Although it noted this could be shorter with seasonal or perishable goods or clearance stock which had already been discounted.

eilo1

i dunno about if the pricing is illegal but I can tell you that they are breaking distribution laws.
I work for a fitness supplier whose equipment is being sold illegally on that website (ie. they have exclusive distribution in Ireland and that website is selling to Ireland) and many more dodgy websites like it, never trust these websites!!
You can tell they are dodge if they are selling you equipment that is way over priced, they are not telling you that a lot of this equipment is second hand and they are CHARGING you for a warranty that should be standard!!!!!!!

just be careful if a deal looks too good it really is!!

Sangre

eilo1 wrote: »

i dunno about if the pricing is illegal but I can tell you that they are breaking distribution laws.
I work for a fitness supplier whose equipment is being sold illegally on that website (ie. they have exclusive distribution in Ireland and that website is selling to Ireland) and many more dodgy websites like it, never trust these websites!!
You can tell they are dodge if they are selling you equipment that is way over priced, they are not telling you that a lot of this equipment is second hand and they are CHARGING you for a warranty that should be standard!!!!!!!

just be careful if a deal looks too good it really is!!

Sorry, just going to make a comment here.

More than likely your company does have the rights to exclusive distribution, however this can only prevent direct selling by other retailers i.e., setting up an establishment in Ireland and selling the said goods there. However, due to competition law, generally a distributor can not prevent passive selling, that is, a consumer from a jurisdiction which has an exclusive distributor already approaching a distributor in another jurisdiction by internet/phone to purchase said goods.

In short, your friend may have an exclusive license to distribute the goods in Ireland, but he is not entitled to prevent a UK distributor with a UK website selling to Irish consumers who have approached him i.e. passive selling. Therefore, in this regard, I do not think the company is doing any wrong.

Deadly Combination

here is an e.g

data 20 Oct - £199 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fTYmj_ydBk4J:www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf480-heavy-duty-multi-press-walk-in-squat-rack.php+Bodymax+CF480+Heavy+Duty+Multi+Press+Walk-In+Squat+Rack&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

today price - £249 http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf480-heavy-duty-multi-press-walk-in-squat-rack.php

Bottle_of_Smoke

To be honest I think the rule that you must display something for 6 weeks to use a Was x Now y tag is an Irish thing so they can prob get away with this sh*te

You should never underestimate the power of an annoying email. If you really want it hassle them to give it to you at the old price. Nothing but a few minutes of typing to lose.

Deadly Combination

You should never underestimate the power of an annoying email. If you really want it hassle them to give it to you at the old price. Nothing but a few minutes of typing to lose.[/QUOTE]



WHAT !!! I dont want that rack or anything from that shop im doing this cause what their are doing is wrong and dont comment here again Bottle Of Smoke if its annoying ya cause i dont want to hear ya

other e.g

data 20 Oct - £74.99 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sIAwQ0XSL9IJ:www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf315-adjustable-squat-and-dip-rack-mor.php+/search?hl=en&q=+site:powerhouse-fitness.co.uk+Bodymax+CF415+Squat+and+Dip+Rack+With+Spotter+Catchers+powerhouse+fitness&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

today price - £ 124.99 http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf315-adjustable-squat-and-dip-rack.php

rubadub

Enter Username wrote: »

My vote for "Stupid Comment of the Year"

Not stupid at all, the bit about "whatever they want" might be incorrect but consumers should look at the price and decide what is best, be aware of the tricks -since even if there is a time limit they can still artificially raise the price for that period.

Tesco do this all the time, loads of stuff is "half price", when it is full price they might only have token 5 or 6 items on the shelf, knowing full well it will not sell at all, then "half price" and there are 100's available. With takeaway pizza half price IS normal price, you would be mad to pay full whack.

I see people blindly filling trolleys with stuff they are TOLD is a bargain, they have no concept of value of the item, just because a sign says 50% off does not mean its a good price.

In this case I would be comparing with other companies to see if the price is good. Amazon have more and more stuff and have free postage if over £25, you can also add in cheap items like a DVD to get the total over £25.

marathonic

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

To be honest I think the rule that you must display something for 6 weeks to use a Was x Now y tag is an Irish thing so they can prob get away with this sh*te

You should never underestimate the power of an annoying email. If you really want it hassle them to give it to you at the old price. Nothing but a few minutes of typing to lose.

I think you may be correct. The terminology they use may let them get away with it.

Let's use the example above, the rack was £199.99 but marked as normal price £229.99. It's now £259.99 but marked as normal price £299.99.

They may well be partially correct here because they're not saying that the rack was £299.99, they're saying that the normal price is £299.99. The 'normal' price of everything will be up due to the fact that the UK pound has lost a lot of value in recent weeks.

gavtron

Has anyone asked the question, OP, are you actually buying stuff from them or just pissed off about they're prices?

IMO this isn't a fitness related post, more something for a consumer affairs forum...if one exists...

davmol

Try irishlifting.com, got a few bits n pieces of them before and i can recommend them

Enter Username

The Davestator wrote: »

Your first post on the Fitness Forum and what a helpful one.

I, personally love love new people coming along with pointless, stupid and inflammatory posts with the sole intention of upping their post count and thanks whoring.

I really hope you stay around and answer fitness related questions that people post here every day to help them with their training.

If i'm wrong, ill stand corrected about my post.

You're a great lad...:rolleyes::rolleyes:

You know what... I AM Great, thanks Dave :rolleyes:

Bottle_of_Smoke

Deadly Combination wrote: »

WHAT !!! I dont want that rack or anything from that shop im doing this cause what their are doing is wrong and dont comment here again Bottle Of Smoke if its annoying ya cause i dont want to hear ya

other e.g

data 20 Oct - £74.99 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sIAwQ0XSL9IJ:www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf315-adjustable-squat-and-dip-rack-mor.php+/search?hl=en&q=+site:powerhouse-fitness.co.uk+Bodymax+CF415+Squat+and+Dip+Rack+With+Spotter+Catchers+powerhouse+fitness&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

today price - £ 124.99 http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf315-adjustable-squat-and-dip-rack.php

It appeared you wanted the items from your first post. Was just offering a suggestion to help you out.

Best of luck with your one man crusade against the wording of a marketing offer. There is also a consumer issues board here which is probably more suitable than a fitness board for your fight against the tyranny of capitalist manipulation.

TommyKnocker

Mod Note: Thread Closed as this is not a Fitness related issue and as has been stated already is more a consumer affairs issue.